Home Forums General Discussion Ranbaxy of India Pleads guilty fined 500 million

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  • #307534
    richie
    Participant

    All over the net and in the news today is the report of Ranbaxy being fined 500 million dollars by the FDA for selling adulterated drugs and lying to US investigators —30 drugs are still banned from coming into the US and all drugs from two factories in India are banned into the US —the bad antibiotic was cipro


    Case in point –it is important to ask your pharmacist who manufactured your generic and in what country ..—-This bears out my thinking on this subject –I take a total of 7 generics and my pharmacist knows I only want the generic to be made in the US or Europe –there is inferior med out there and we all must be our best advocate —
    richie

    #368262
    Maz
    Keymaster

    Well said, Richie! This has been going on for a while with Ranbaxy:

    http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/2008/ucm116949.htm

    Here is the US Govt Dept of Justice article on this issue, published yesterday:

    http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/May/13-civ-542.html

    #368263
    JoAnnC68
    Participant

    Wow…I’ve been using this brand since Sept 2012…with good results.
    I guess I need to see if my Walmart Pharmacy will get another brand.

    Diagnosed with RA Jan 2012
    Oct 2015- RF has dropped to 19!!! Isn't that Great! ?! I'm feeling wonderful! I'm still taking Mino 2 x daily...if I don't forget!
    Oct 2014 RF has dropped to 23.1!! Taking Mino 100mg 2 x daily. No Pains & doing great!!
    Oct 2013-RF has dropped to 40.9!!! Feeling Wonderful!!
    7-17-2013 I'm going Great!! Still taking mino 100mg twice daily. No pains or Complaints!
    5-9-2013 RA Dr said I was doing good, I could stop taking prednisone since I dropped to 1/2 mg...so will

    #368264
    Maz
    Keymaster

    @JoAnnC68 wrote:

    Wow…I’ve been using this brand since Sept 2012…with good results.
    I guess I need to see if my Walmart Pharmacy will get another brand.

    Joann, try not to worry if you’ve been getting good results! The problem in your case may be more in terms of supply, as the Ranbaxy generic may not be available if it gets taken off the shelves and withdrawn from the marketplace until such time as this pharmaceutical company cleans up its act (or ultimately goes bankrupt?). It’s a good thing that you’ve been getting good results, though one thing to consider is that it’s also possible you may find you get even better results on a different generic, like Teva or Watson. I get my Watson doxy hyclate from Walgreens, so you may be able to get the Watson generic mino from them.

    #368265
    PhilC
    Participant

    Hi JoAnn,
    @JoAnnC68 wrote:

    Wow…I’ve been using this brand since Sept 2012…with good results.
    I guess I need to see if my Walmart Pharmacy will get another brand.

    I wouldn’t worry about it too much. If they’re capsules, they are not made in India. In fact, they are not even made by
    Ranbaxy — they’re made by Ohm Laboratories in New Jersey. If you’d like, you could call the pharmacy and verify that.

    Info source: http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/lookup.cfm?setid=61f1d07a-f5e9-45b5-8806-b31a441bc592
    (near the bottom of the page)

    Phil

    "Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
    - Albert Einstein

    #368266
    richie
    Participant

    Hi Very good point –many many Indian companies have opened and continue to open manufacturing facilites in the US – obviously these are fine as they come under the scrutiny of the FDA –its the meds actually manufactured in India that have been problematical –
    richie

    #368267
    JoAnnC68
    Participant

    Maz, Phil and Richie…

    Thank you so much for your replies…I was worried about the Ranbaxy brand of minocycline after reading the report on
    the website:
    http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/May/13-civ-542.html

    Infact, I had printed off the report with the intention of taking it to Wal-Mart tomorrow, and was going to ask the pharmacy about ordering Teva or Watson brand minocycline.

    I did check out the website that you furnished Phil, these pills are capsules and matches the colors and numbers that
    is written in the article. Like Richie said that is a very good point, and this makes me feel so much better…Thanks again!!

    Maz, it does makes me wonder, if I had used the Teva or Watson brand would I have better results?
    Maybe, but the way I feel now, I have no complaints at all from using the Ranbaxy brand for the last 8 months. I’ve been cutting back on my prednisone, was at half of 1mg when I went to Rheum Dr last Thur, he told me that was nothing and I could quit taken them now. I took 1/2mg every other day for a few days and I did good on the days I didn’t take any. Today is my second day without any prednisone and I’m feeling okay with no pains at all. Ha, when I get my blood test result back in a week or so, it might be a different story, but honetly, I’ve been feeling great, I also try to walk 2 miles every day.

    Should I consider changing the brand of mino to Teva or Watson? I can talk to the lady at the pharmacy to see if she can order Teva or Watson brand. I’m in a small town, so there no Walgreen here. 🙁

    I’m So Thankful for “The Roadback” and all you guys!
    Jo Ann

    Diagnosed with RA Jan 2012
    Oct 2015- RF has dropped to 19!!! Isn't that Great! ?! I'm feeling wonderful! I'm still taking Mino 2 x daily...if I don't forget!
    Oct 2014 RF has dropped to 23.1!! Taking Mino 100mg 2 x daily. No Pains & doing great!!
    Oct 2013-RF has dropped to 40.9!!! Feeling Wonderful!!
    7-17-2013 I'm going Great!! Still taking mino 100mg twice daily. No pains or Complaints!
    5-9-2013 RA Dr said I was doing good, I could stop taking prednisone since I dropped to 1/2 mg...so will

    #368268
    lynnie_sydney
    Participant

    Should I consider changing the brand of mino to Teva or Watson? I can talk to the lady at the pharmacy to see if she can order Teva or Watson brand. I’m in a small town, so there no Walgreen here.

    IMO, if you are feeling that your results have been good and you are feeling great, I wouldn’t change. I am a great fan of the ‘if it ain’t broke, dont fix it’ approach.

    Be well! Lynnie

    Palindromic RA 30 yrs (Chronic Lyme?)
    Mino 2003-2008 100mg MWF - can no longer tolerate any tetracyclines
    rotating abx protocol now. From Sep 2018 MWF - a.m. Augmentin Duo 440mg + 150mg Biaxsig (roxithromycin). p.m. Cefaclor (375mg) + Klacid 125mg + LDN 3mg + Annual Clindy IV's
    Diet: no gluten, dairy, sulphites, low salicylates
    Supps: 600mg N-AC BID, 1000mg Vit C, P5P 40mg, zinc picolinate 60mg, Lithium orotate 20mg, Magnesium Oil, Bio-identical hormones (DHEA + Prog + Estrog)

    #368269
    Maz
    Keymaster

    @JoAnnC68 wrote:

    Should I consider changing the brand of mino to Teva or Watson? I can talk to the lady at the pharmacy to see if she can order Teva or Watson brand. I’m in a small town, so there no Walgreen here. 🙁

    Joann, so great you’re doing so well! 😀

    As you’re doing so well on Ranbaxy, why switch? If, on the other hand, you are unable to get further supplies of Ranbaxy generic, then you may need to look into obtaining a different generic, such as Teva or Watson. As you’ve just come off the last of your pred, it might be pushing things to switch immediately. However, if you want to trial a different generic, then waiting a month or two before doing so after ending pred may be worth doing, just to see if it elicits any further herxing at that stage. If it does, then you will know there is more work to be done, which is actually a good thing. Figuring out the difference between a herx or a flare can be tricky, though.

    It’s easy to feel complacent and not wanting to rock the boat when we reach a period of stability and remission of symptoms, but this can sometimes lead to a false sense of security and can lend itself to being very unnerving when, if, for instance, we hit a period of sudden flaring (due to stress, accident, injury, surgery, acute infection, etc). It’s at these times, which are not uncommon, that we then wonder if the treatment is still working. So, sometimes, it’s not a bad idea to gently rock the boat a little (raising or lowering the dose, changing the generic, adding a second abx, etc), just to test the waters to see if more needs to be done to really unearth those deep-seated, possibly hidden infections. This sort of thing is very much an individual choice and a question of how far one wants to go to test these waters. Sometimes, it’s just safer to stay where one is, especially if we need to work, have young ones or elderly relatives to look after, etc. Lots of variables with all this….but ultimately, it all rests on one’s own comfort zone.

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